Intentions to Marry, 1878

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840390, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, March 5 2025

Page 692

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1878

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
4896	16 March 1878	Robert Power Whitman Mary Ann Meates	Robert Powell Whitmarsh Mary Ann Mastnes 💍 1878/509	Widower Spinster	Clerk Seamstress	36 25	Christchurch Hurunui	2 years 1 year	In the house of Mr C Fraser, Tuam Street	78/469		16 March 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
4897	16 March 1878	James Robert Stokes Ann Mahala Russell	James Robert Stokes Ann Mahala Russell 💍 1878/571	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 19	Heathcote Christchurch	8 months 3 years	In the Registrar's Office, Christchurch	78/553	Richard Russell, Father	16 March 1878	Registrar of Marriages, Mandeville
4898	18 March 1878	William McLean Ann Kerracher	William McLean Elizabeth McKerracher 💍 1878/553	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist Servant	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch, Colombo Road	8 months [illegible]	In the [illegible] Christchurch	78/534		18 March 1878	Rev. H. Glasson
4899	18 March 1878	John Strevell Little Anna Maria Pierce	John Stewart Little Maria Anna Pierce 💍 1878/545	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days [illegible]	In the [illegible] Christchurch	78/527		18 March 1878	Rev. L. Ginaty
4900	20 March 1878	Charles Griffin Elizabeth Deane	Charles Griffin Elizabeth Deane 💍 1878/530	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	28 18	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 5 months	In the Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch	78/487	Margaret Deane, Mother	20 March 1878	Rev. L. Ginaty
4901	20 March 1878	Henry Felsenfeld Bertha Heidner		Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Servant	29 23	Addington Christchurch	3 years 1 month	In the German Church, Christchurch	78/1216		20 March 1878	Rev. L. Lohr, Luth
4902	23 March 1878	Alfred Agar Mary Ann Seylin	Alfred Agassiz Mary Ann Devlyn 💍 1878/513	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon	34 24	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 5 days	In St Michael's Church, Christchurch	78/494		23 March 1878	Rev. E. G. Penny
4903	28 March 1878	Ernest Oppenheimer Helen Kate Perry	Ernest Oppenhiem Helen Kate Pearcy 💍 1878/551	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Servant	24 20	Christchurch St Albans	5 years 16 years	In the Merivale Church, Christchurch	78/532	There is no person having authority to consent	28 March 1878	Rev. J. Flavell, Cong
4904	28 March 1878	William Robert Fairweather Mary Louisa Joynt	William Robert Faithful Clerkson Mary Louisa Joynt 💍 1878/1216	Bachelor Widow	Roadmaker	45 35	Maimakiriri Christchurch	5 years [illegible]	In St John's Church, Christchurch	78/1239		28 March 1878	Rev. H. C. M. Watson, CofE
4905	29 March 1878	George Cooper Gertrude Verner	George Cooper Gertrude Vernall 💍 1878/511	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 19	Hurunui Hurunui	6 years 5 months	In the Scotch Church, Christchurch	78/471	There is no person having authority to consent	29 March 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
4906	29 March 1878	Richard Berry Helen Anderson	Richard Berry Helen Anderson 💍 1878/1244	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	21 21	Addington Addington	9 months 9 months	In the house, Christchurch	78/1267		29 March 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).